yeomans



i UNITED STATES PATENT MANNING It. YEOMANS, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY,ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FERDINAND H. WISMER, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-CQUPMNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 358,421, dated February22, 1887.

Application filed Oct-Ober 22, 1886. Serial No. 2116,924. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MANNTNG R. YEoMANs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplers; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, whichform a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved automatic couplerfor cars that will work more effectually when the buffers of said carscome together; also, to provide a more durable and efficient coupler,and to reduce the cost of manufacture. f

rlhe invention consists in an improved carconpler and in thearrangements and combinations of parts, substantially as will behereinafter set forth, and finally embodied in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which likeletters indicatecorresponding` parts in each of'the several figures, Figure lis a planof the under part of two cars provided with my improved coupler,.aportion being broken away to show certain parts of the same. Fig. 2 is afront elevation of a portion of a car provided with an improved coupler,and showing the draw-head in a raised position. Figs. Sand 4 are anendelevation and a plan view, respectively, of my improved coupler,showing a certain modified form of gravitypawl in connection withsaidcoupler; and Figs. 'and 6 are details of certain parts of the improvedcoupler.

In said drawings, A indicates the body of the car; B, a crossbeam of theplatform; a c', buffers, which are attached to the car in any suitablemanner.

b b are draw-bars, ando c are lateral braces, through which saiddraw-bar passes and which are attached to said buffers, the brace cbeing attached by means of springs and bolts, and the brace c' beingmortised to said buffer in any ordinary manner. The said draw-bar b isprovided with a ratchet-wheel, e, a weight, d, a nut, ci, a lock-nut,c2, and a slotted and hooked head, b. Itmay pass through a suitableperforation in the brace c and then receive the ratchet-Wheel @whichmaybe secured to it by a set-screw, or in any other ordinary manner. Theweight d is secured to the said draw-bar between the two braces c and c,and at or approximately at right angles to the head b', as indicated inFig. 6. The said bar b may be reduced in diameter to form ashoulder,which may bear against the brace c, and then pass through asuitable perforation in said brace and receive the nuts c2 c3. The saidbrace c is held in position by bolts a and springs a4, said boltspassing through suitable perforations in' said brace and adapted toreceive a nut, a, at the end thereof. Said springs c4 are disposed onboth sides of said brace c, to which the draw-bar b is swivellyconnected, thus cushioning a blow in either direction on said draw-bar,as in aV sudden pull 'or push.

l vided with a chain, e3, attached to it by means of a pin, or in anyordinary manner, the object of said chain being to raise the draw-headby turning the draw-bar from engaging relation with the correspondingdraw-head to the disengaged position, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4; andwhen raised to said position the said pawl e2 drops automatically intoengagement with the ratchet-tooth e* of said wheel e by means of thespring-bar f and spring g, thus holding said draw-head in a raisedposition, and also pushing forward the rod ig.

The buffer a may be suitably perforated to receive the said rod g,spring-bar f, and spring g', as indicatedinFig. 1. The drum or ratchet-At least one of drawheads are caused to fall automatically intoengagement relation with the draw-head of the neXt car by means of theweight d, as indicated in Figs. l and 6, thus automatically coupling thecars, as will be understood.

Instead of the spring-actuated pawl, as indicated in Figs. l and 2, agravity-pawl may be used, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, said pawl beingplaced above said ratchet-wheel, and consisting, essentially, of agravity-bar, f, pivoted to a plate, 1', which may be secured tothe bracec and the platform crossbeam B, said bar being provided with a pawl, e2,and a weight, h, and being adapted to drop automatically, so that thesaid pawl e2 will fall into its seat e4 in the ratchet-wheel e when saidwheel is turned as above described, thus holding the draw-head in theposition indicated in Figs. 2 and 4.

The end of the gravity-barf may rest upon a lever, h3, pivoted at it tothe side of the buffer a, and bent so as to extend in front of saidbuffer, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, and provided at the end with abroad bearing-surface, z. Thus when the cars come together the buffer acomes in contact with the bearing-surface ofthe lever h3, as will bemanifest, and in gravitybar f and disengaging the pawl e2, thusautomatically dropping the Weight d, which turns the draw-head b', sothat it will lie in a horizont-al plane, and by this means coupling thedraw-head with the corresponding one of the next car. The said draw-headmay be provided with a slot, b2, adapted to receive an ordinary lilik,such as are used more especially on coal and freight cars, and also aperforation, b3, to receive an ordinary pin, thus enabling a carprovided with animproved automatic coupler to be coupled to a car withthe ordinary link-andpin coupling. The said draw-bar, together with itsautomatic operating device, may be attached to the bottom of the buffersby employing suitable angleplates and braces, thus providing for theimproved coupler to be attached to cars of different heights. Thedrawbar b, draw-head b', ratchet-wheel e, and weight d may be castintegral-that is, in one piecewhich is advantageous when the coupler isto be attached to the bottom ofthe buffer, as above referred to.

I do not wish to limit construction and proportion of parts hereinshown, as it is evident that changes may be made in those particularswithout departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

myself to the exact I am aware that a weighted draw-bar adapted to turnpivotally to engage the co-operating draw-bar when released by contactwith said co operating draw -bar is not broadly new; nor is it new toproject a repressible releasing-rod, such as the one marked y, buffer,and I do not claim the same herein; but in the improved device thereleasing repression-rod arranged in the buffer, and which takes aportion of the impact as the cars come together, is separate and awayfrom the drawhead, so that its freedom to turn pivotally when releasedis not impaired.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new i.

1. In a cancoupler, the combination, with a gravity-actuated hookeddraw-bar and buffers a a, of a releasing device extending in forth.

2. In a car-couplcr, the combination, with a gravity-actuated hookedratchet drum or wheel and a chain, c3, adapted to turn said hookeddrawbar from engaging to disengaging relation with the draw-bar of aconnecting car, a pawl to engage the said ratchet, and a repression-rodto release the saidpawl from the ratchet-whecl,substantially as setforth. l

3. In a car-coupler, the combination, with buffers and suitablecross-bars, of a gravityactuated hooked draw-bar passing through asuitable perforation in one of said cross-bars and swiveled to the otherof said cross-bars, bolts a2, carrying the latter of said cross-bars,and springs arranged on opposite sides 0f the said latterof thecross-bars, to hold said crossbar in place and cushioning it against ablow from either the direction of a pull or push, substantially as setforth.

4. In a car-coupler, the combination, with the buiiers, suitablecross-bars, and agravityactuated hooked drawbar, of a ratchet-wheel, apawl, e2, rod f, spring y', and rod g, said rod g adapted to disengagesaid pawl e2 when pushed by the corresponding buffer of the cooperatingcar, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto/set my hand this5th day of October, 1886.

MANNING It. YEOMANS.

Titnessesz K Osonn A. MICHEL, WM. S. CoRwIN.

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